Have your say on the future of Derbyshire healthcare

4 May 2012

Derbyshire people have an opportunity to have their say in the shaping of future health services in a public consultation launched today by Derbyshire health organisations. The consultation, which runs until 31 May, is inviting people from all over the county to attend a public meeting or complete a questionnaire online or by post, to agree a set of principles which will inform future decision making.

The NHS in Derbyshire is faced with major challenges to find better ways of delivering health care, while at the same time meeting new and increasing demands and managing costs. People are living longer, there is the impact of unhealthy lifestyles and many NHS buildings are old and were built when services and patients’ needs were very different. At the same time, new technology and a focus on patient choice offer opportunities to do things differently.

As a first step towards facing these challenges, Derbyshire’s health organisations now want people’s views and comments on a proposed set of principles to help the local NHS make the right decisions about health care for the 21st century and ensure that the right care is delivered in the right places.

Members of the public are invited to join the debate on the principles to use when making difficult decisions about future health care, and attend public meetings at the following venues:

Sue James, Chief Executive of Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It’s really important to have an agreed set of principles with the public. If we know what the public want in terms of the principles on which a service is based then it does help us to make sure that people can trust us to meet their needs with a service that is actually even better than the one we have got today. What I would like to see is the hospital working much more closely with GPs, community nurses and colleagues in the voluntary sector so we can create a system where patients are proactively looked after.”

Tracy Allen, Chief Executive of Derbyshire Community Health Services, said: “We have to find a way of doing things differently if we are going to be able to provide the services our patients expect in future years. So, the principles are all about trying to provide care for people in their own homes or as close to home as possible. We know that we have got a huge amount of NHS estate around the county that as we look to the future really isn’t as good as we would like it to be to provide the quality services we want to deliver and to respond to individual patient needs."

Dr Ben Milton, Chair of North Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said: "There are over a million people living in Derbyshire and Derby and every one of us has a stake in health services. This consultation is an opportunity for everyone to have a say in the shaping of those services.”

Gavin Boyle, Chief Executive of Chesterfield Royal Hospital Foundation Trust, said: “Clearly the NHS needs to respond to a changing world if it is to provide better quality services in the future. Partly it’s about working more closely with our colleagues in health and social care, but it’s also using some of the new technologies around sharing information about patients and being able to monitor people in their own homes so they don’t have to be admitted to hospital.

“One of the fundamental ways we want to run services is to ensure that patients are not just involved in decisions about their own care but also in the designing of services for the future and we hope that many people will join the debate and attend the public meetings.”

Kathryn Blackshaw, Acting Chief Executive of Derbyshire Healthcare Foundation Trust said: “Our organisation is here to provide high quality care to many vulnerable people who rely on us at a time in their lives when they most need support. I hope they see this as a chance to help improve the care we are able to provide, by contributing towards the principles against which we make decisions moving forward, in what is a very challenging time.

We are keen to hear from as many people as possible to help make sure that the underlying principles we use are the right ones, that they help shape and develop our organisation. For us, this is building on the work we have started in the last twelve months to create a responsive, listening organisation that engages the public in its decision making. This is a real opportunity for people to make a difference to the way in which healthcare is provided within Derbyshire, and be involved through the sharing of local views.”

Once the principles have been agreed, they will be used to inform future service developments across the city and county.